Articles 12.2013

Summing up the main political events which have taken place in 2013 it could be said that Russia expanded its agenda to the global level trying to stabilize the situation and get off the ground what has been stymied for many years. The Arab world has said the Russia’s regional clout is growing while the US reputation is falling down. Americans don’t argue. A recent Pew Research Center conducted in partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations showed that full 70% of Americans believe the United States is less respected than in the past. The public also disapproves of Obama’s handling of Syria, Iran, China and Afghanistan by wide margins...

...The new United Nations resolution envisages significant surge of the force’s strength from seven to twelve and a half thousand – actually doubling the Mission’s strength... The resolution № 2132 was prepared by the United States. In some aspects it serves as an example of how the forces of the United Nations are used in the interests of the United States of America to provide for the operations of the US armed forces... The country’s troubles and the new flare-up of violence in the middle of December are caused by the activities of armed groups and the interethnic strife...

A meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council took place in Moscow on December 24 with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev. After the meeting of the heads of states which make up the integration nucleus, the counterparts from Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, as well as Ukrainian Prime Minister Azarov, who was there as an observer, joined the talks... The signing of the Eurasian Economic Union treaty is slated for May 2014 to launch the project in January 2015. The creation of a powerful industrial and financial base will allow to compete and make the Union one of world economy leaders. The achievement of this strategic objective is the main mission of the Eurasian Economic Space for the coming future...

A first rate diplomatic row has erupted over the heavy-handed arrest and detention of India’s deputy consul-general in New York Devyani Khobragade a fortnight ago by the US authorities. The charge against her is that she willfully committed a visa fraud by submitting a visa application for her domestic help Sangeeta Richard, which allegedly contained false and inaccurate statements. The Indian diplomat was arrested on a public street in Manhattan, New York, on December 12 morning, held in a cell and was released on bail after executing a bond of quarter of a million dollars and surrendering her diplomatic passport. The case has been slated for hearing in the US court in mid-January...

...The results of a survey conducted in late August – early September 2013 by the French marketing firm IFOP show an abrupt increase in the number of Euroskeptics in the top four economies of the Eurozone: Germany, France, Italy and Spain. The main question they asked the Germans, French, Italians and Spaniards was whether they felt that membership in the European Union was advantageous to them. 37% of residents of the Pyrenees believe that membership in the EU only brings Spain problems (a year earlier 26% in Spain were Euroskeptics). In France the number of those who are dissatisfied with their country's membership in the European Union rose from 38% in 2012 to 43% at present. In Germany 44% of the population disapprove of membership in united Europe (a year ago 36% in Germany were Euroskeptics). The greatest number of Euroskeptics is in Italy, where 45% of citizens see no benefit in being part of the European Union...

The president of Russia, when speaking at the last big press conference of the year, praised the achievements of Russian foreign policy highly... Given the growth of Russia's international authority, one might expect it to come closer to resolving the problems which have accumulated over the years in the Caspian Basin... The five Caspian states have not been able to sign a Convention on the status of the Caspian Sea for 17 years; they are still just trying to work out principles based on which all the countries would agree to jointly administer the common body of water... It has already been announced that the Fourth Caspian Summit will be held in Astrakhan in 2014...

A corruption scandal has broken out in Turkey. At the epicenter of the scandal is the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Over 50 people have been detained on suspicion of exceeding official authority, taking bribes, and merging authority and business (according to various data, between 52 and 84 people). The greatest resonance in the Turkish media was caused by the arrests of the sons of cabinet members. The hidden political motives for the revelations of corruption in the ranks of the ruling party are intriguing as well...

Rafael Correa is one of those Latin American presidents which ruling circles in the U.S. consider uncontrollable and thus especially dangerous. To get rid of such politicians, Washington makes use of a wide arsenal of means, from interfering in election processes to physical elimination. After the strange death of Hugo Chavez, who led Latin America's resistance against the Empire, it is Correa who is increasingly seen as his successor, the leader of the "populist forces" on the continent...

...On December 12, Devyani Khobragade, the deputy Indian consul general and advisor to the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nation, was arrested by law enforcement officials in New York. The arrest was in violation of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations. Khobragade was criminally charged by the chief federal prosecutor in New York with committing U.S. visa fraud to hire an underpaid domestic servant. The 39-year old Indian diplomat was stripped naked, subjected to an invasive body cavity search, and jailed before posting bail... Barack Obama has done nothing to change America’s bellicosity toward diplomats, especially those of color. Obama is merely a congenial face of color that hides America’s true nature: a nation that condones racism along with an ever-looming threat of a jackboot and strip-search...

In a brazen show of bringing-to-heel in their «special relationship», American political and Pentagon chiefs are openly rebuking the British government to maintain its huge military spend on the NATO alliance – to the possible detriment of already withering public services in austerity-clobbered Britain. The imposition by Washington raises serious questions about the nature of democracy in Britain – the self-proclaimed «Mother of all Parliaments»...